


Advice

by Theflannelwizard



Category: The Amazing World of Gumball
Genre: Coming Out, F/F, Gen, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Mr. Small is imperfect but he's trying, One Shot, Ship is just Masami talking about having a crush, i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:47:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26715484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theflannelwizard/pseuds/Theflannelwizard
Summary: Masami is nervous about how her dad might react to her coming out as a lesbian, so she goes to Mr. Small for advice. Short, not-too-intense one shot I wrote because I love Masami and think about her all the time.
Relationships: Masami Yoshida/Jamie Russo
Kudos: 16





	Advice

‘You know,’ Masami thought to herself, ‘it’s Friday afternoon. I could be doing anything I wanted right now! No homework, no plans, great weather… the possibilities are endless! So why am I standing in front of Mr. Small’s closed office door?’ Just as she was making up her mind to leave, the door creaked open.  
“Ah! Masami! What are you doing here?” Mr. Small smiled down at her, stepping out of the way with a welcoming gesture. Masami wanted to bluff her way out of talking to him, but she couldn’t. She knew what she had to do.  
“It’s nothing much,” she said, scooting past him and sitting down in the chair facing his desk. “Um, can you close the door?”  
“Sure thing! I will warn you, though, I have plans in about an hour and a half. I’m meeting a guy who sells me these homegrown herbs, and if I’m not there right on time he might sell them to someone else. Stuff that fresh is in high demand!” Mr. Small laughed, putting his feet up on his desk. “So tell me, what’s troubling you?”  
Masami took a deep breath, not sure if she was ready to just dive in.  
“Okay, so, it started two or three weeks ago. I was walking down the hallway to class and Anais Watterson tripped and dropped all her books, and, well, I laughed, because it’s funny when people fall down! It just is! And… and Jamie Russo was walking with Anais, and she saw me laughing, and she kinda pinned me up against the wall and threatened to punch my lights out.”  
“Ah, yes. Bullying. It’s tough, isn’t it?”  
“No. No, the problem isn’t that I’m being bullied. The problem is… well…” Masami paused, embarrassed. “I kinda thought it was hot, okay? I kinda… liked it. And now every time I look at Jamie I keep thinking about her pinning me against the wall and, like, y’know… kissing me. But I’m straight. Or at least, I’m supposed to be.”  
Mr. Small swung his legs off the desk, almost pushing over a stack of papers, and leaned forward to look at Masami.   
“So the problem is you’re not straight? Well, that’s not a problem at all! Plenty of students here are members of the LGBT community! Can’t tell you which ones, confidentiality stuff, but you’re not alone. No one is going to give you trouble for that!”  
“Maybe not at school. But what about my dad? He has all these strict, old fashioned expectations, and even though he wouldn’t say it out loud, I know he’d be upset. He wants me to marry a businessman so that my husband can inherit the rainbow factory. That’s ridiculous, right?! Not only does he want to decide who I fall in love with, but he thinks that I can’t be a businessman just because I’m not a man!”  
“Huh,” Mr Small murmured, tapping his fingers. “Yeah, that does sound pretty tough. Have you tried getting him some bath salts to release the negative vibes he’s holding on to and instead instill him with an aura of calm?”  
“He only takes showers,” Masami deadpanned, wishing she had just left when the bell rang. “And besides, even if I was allowed to be a lesbian, how can I know whether girls like me back? It was hard enough having to find a boyfriend, with girls there would be actual emotions involved! I always thought dating was just for drama and to prove you were cool! This totally changes the game, and I hate it.”  
“Uh huh.” Mr. Small nodded, but didn’t say anything constructive.  
“Yeah,” Masami continued. “It just.. I mean, what if I did tell Jamie I like her, and she just beat me up for it? Not because I think she’s homophobic, just because she beats everyone up. Is it weird that I think that’s, like, kinda cool of her? I kinda want her to beat up everyone who makes me sad. That would be, like, really cool, and it would make me feel all safe. I kinda want Jamie to beat up my dad. Why am I telling you this? Like, no offense, but I don’t actually trust you all that much. I guess I just don’t have anyone else to talk to. But yeah, I kinda think it would be super cool if I could, like, hold hands with Jamie, and have her protect me, and fall asleep on her shoulder on bus rides to and from field trips instead of having to fall asleep against the window or the seat in front of me. And I guess that makes me kinda gay, but I can’t be gay, because then I have to start hating my dad.”  
“You don’t have to hate your dad,” Mr. Small offered. “In fact, I would encourage you not to. You could always just talk to your mom first, if she’s not as bad, and then have her on your side when you’re ready to talk to your dad. Or you could just not tell him at all. You don’t owe him that information. In fact, you don’t owe anyone anything at all.” He leaned back in his chair, clearly pleased with his own advice.  
“I… I guess,” Masami shrugged. “I just don’t like it. I want to tell him, y’know? I want to get to be myself with him, because he’s my dad, and I love him, even if he’s never around anymore. I just don’t know if he would still like me if I wasn’t what he expected me to be.”  
“Well, one of the most important things I learned about being an adult is that if someone only likes you if you’re what they want you to be, they don’t like you at all. They like an idea that they came up with, and you’ll probably never live up to that idea, no matter how hard you try. So don’t try. Just be yourself, love yourself, and do your best. Nobody can fault you for that, and if they try to, well, maybe they're not the kind of person you really want to be around anyway.”  
Masami stared at her guidance counselor, who was looking at her was an unfamiliar honesty in his eyes. This wasn’t the Mr. Small who told her just minutes ago to not bother talking to her dad. This was coming from his heart.  
“Listen, Masami, people aren’t all gonna like you. And I know it probably sucks to think that your dad might be one of the haters, especially for such a ridiculous reason. But if you think that trying to get yourself a girlfriend would make you happy, well, maybe you should go for it. Unless you think it would leave you in a genuinely unsafe situation. I don’t know how intense your dad is about this stuff. But maybe this is something you could talk to him about, and if he really isn’t a decent person about it… it’s better to know that now than to hide from yourself for years only to suffer the same heartbreak later, right?”  
“I guess,” Masami said softly. “I’ll think about it, okay?”  
“Okay. Good luck, little buddy. I’ll try to convince Lu- uh, Miss Simian to change the seating chart for you.”  
“Whatever.” Masami tried to look like she didn’t care, but she could feel the blush creeping into her cheeks as she slid out of her chair. “I’m gonna go now. It’s Friday, and you have to get your herbs, and-”  
“That I do! You come back here if you need anything, alright?”  
“Alright.” Masami smiled just a little as she walked out of the room. Maybe Mr. Small’s advice wasn’t perfect, but she had lots to think about, and it all seemed a little less scary than before.


End file.
